Monday the 20th marked the 50th anniversary of one of the strangest stories in music history.
On November 20th, 1973, during the first night of The Who's Quadrophenia tour, drummer Keith Moon passed out 70-minutes into the show from tranquilizers and brandy he'd downed before going on.
Pete Townshend asked if anyone played the drums, and Scott Halpin, a 19-year-old who'd recently moved to the Bay Area from Iowa, came forward and was brought on stage to finish the show. He played on "Smokestack Lightning," "Naked Eye," but not easily, despite instructions from Townshend, and "My Generation." He then took a bow with Townshend, Roger Daltrey and John Entwistle.
Halpin later told Rolling Stone, "I only played three numbers and I was dead." That led to an audition with Journey, but he didn't get the job. You can see Halpin's performance on the Who DVDs Thirty Years of Maximum R&B Live and Amazing Journey. Halpin died in 2008 from a brain tumor. He was 54.